10 OF ZEN FOUNDER

10 of zen was founded by Nikki Wilson. In this video she explains her postnatal struggles and why she's helping mums to meditate.

Guided meditations on acceptance and self-compassion helped me to see sunshine behind the darkest of dark clouds. Taking 10 minutes out is a habit I’ve stuck to and now I want to share the love with fellow mums.”

— Nikki, Mum to Thomas & Matty

Nikki left her job as CEO at the London-based charity Wings for Life UK to set up 10 of zen. She often calls the organisation her ‘first baby’ having built it from scratch in partnership with the brand Red Bull.

Her love affair with all things Eastern began when she was teaching English in China. On returning home to study Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience at university, she was recognised by the British Psychological Society as the highest performing undergraduate in her cohort.

Starting to build her career in the charity sector, she also began to explore the role of meditation in her life, finding inspiration in Raja Yoga Meditation and the practitioners Thich Nhat Hanh, Tara Brach and Mark Williams.

Nikki is a breath of fresh air. This isn’t like the same old fashioned meditations with raspy voices and floaty music. She has a real and compassionate approach.”

— Tansy, Mum to Fin & Darcey

Her commitment to a regular 10-minute daily meditation practice started when she became a mum in 2014, a transition she found very tough. Fondly known by her family as her ‘10 of zen’ time, she started to develop a style of meditation more tailored to the highs and lows of being a mum.

Bringing together classic meditation skills, an underpinning knowledge of psychological theory plus personal experiences of therapy and life coaching, Nikki started to record meditations for other mums while on maternity leave for a second time in 2017.

In 2018 she set up 10 of zen as a business with the goal of bringing the proven benefits of her own mindfulness practice to fellow mums around the world.